from a relentless architect
building a modern art museum

Japanese architect Ando Tadao owns a reputation for terrifying contractors. He demands nothing less than the highest degree of excellence in the fabrication of his buildings, which extends from the preparation for his sheer concrete walls to finished masonry. Japanese building crafts tend to be regarded as the pinnacle of the discipline.

Mr. Ando has been known to bring contractors to tears by pointing out errors large and small, declaring the work beneath his standard. American contractors are widely seen by foreign builders in the exact opposite light, and Mr. Ando is accordingly harsher in disciplining them, not just expecting perfection, but taking a hammer to anything less, leaving the contractor with no choice but to start fresh. We don’t know if that is how this scrap of the museum’s granite flooring—cast aside in a plant bed—came to be, but we like to think so.

Mika Yoshida & David G. Imber in Fort Worth, Texas